Saturday, February 28, 2015

Nadi Shabab Al-Arab (The Club of Arab Youth) was established in
September 1934 by the support of the Arab Palestine Youth Congress which in
general made a great contribution to sports and scout movements.[i]
In September 1934, in this regard Difa' published this news:

“Everyone remembers that
in Haifa there was a club known as a Salisi (Salesian), it included an elite of
Haifa’s intellectual young men. Something happened that touched the national
dignity during that day when this club was receiving the Armor of the Youth
Congress. The members of this club became upset. So they decided to separate
themselves from the Salesian club, and found a new club they named Shabab al
Arab (The Arab Youth). The national
movement in Haifa welcomed this new club and received it with pleasure. In
order to sustain the links between the youth in Palestine, the new club requested
to be under the auspices of the Youth Congress. [ii]

Shabab al-Arab participated in the
Haifa League which was organized by the Jewish-dominated Palestine Football
Association. The Arab Tirsana Club and Islamic Sports Club took part in this
league too. Shabab al-Arab was one of the best Arab teams in Palestine prior to 1948. Its dynamo, Jabra Az-Zarqa
was one of the greatest among British, Jewish and Arab football players. After the
Nakba, he left to Syria where he played with the
Syrian Army team there, awarding it with a plenty of winnings.[iii]

Under a title Shebab El-Arab Net Ten
Against Haifa Maccabi, Palestine Post brought this news:

Shebab El Arab easily collected the full
points in their Palestine League, Haifa Division game with Haifa Maccabi,
scoring ten goals without any reply from Maccabi. Zaher [Subhi] opened the
scoring in the first minute of the game and after 15 minutes play the Shabab
stormed the Maccabi goal. Zarka [Jabra] II (2), Dardas I and Nahas adding four
additional goals, for an interval score of five to nil. In the second half,
Maccabi made a few unsuccessful sallieson the Shabab goal, but the Shabab soon took over
control of the game again and keeping up a steady bombardment on the Maccabi
citadel, increased their lead to ten to nil before the end. [iv]

Immediately, it became a member of the Arab
Sports Federation PSF after its re-establishment in 1944. In the championship of
1946-1947 which was organized by PSF, thirteen teams took part, the final match
was between Shabab al-Arab and Islamic Club of Jaffa in June 28th 1947. The
former won the Cup of Al-Bank Al-Arabi by 5 goalsto one.

[i]Salisi Club was belonging to the
Salesian schools founded by the Salesian Fathers, a Catholic Convent founded by
St. John Bosco in Turin in Italy in 1840.

The
Arab Palestinian Youth Congress (Mu’tamar al-Shabab al-‘Arabi al-Filastini)
was established in Jerusalem in 1931. It was active in youth, scouts, sports
and political activities, and was famous for its nationalistic trends. It had
its first conference in 1932, the second in 1935. See ‘Isaal- Sifri. Filastin
al-‘Arabiyya bayn al-Intidab wal-Sahyuniyya [Arab Palestine between the
Mandate and Zionism] (Jaffa: Maktabat Filastinal-Jadida, 1937), 194–201.

In an interview with Khalid Ijjawi (Tarikh
al-Haraka al-Riyadiyya al Falastiniyya fi al-Shatat, Damascus, 2001), Jabra
Az-Zarqa explained the reason behind this separation: "after one of its
winnings, the leader of the team asked the players to shake hands first with
the Italian consul and then with Ya'coub al-Ghusein - president of the Youth
Conference." In other words, they felt that
Salisi Club was attached more to the Catholic convent and to Italy than to Palestine.

[iii]Palestine Football Association was established in 1928. Three years
later, in 1931, the Arab Palestine Sports Federation was established. It
functioned until late 1930's, then re-established in 1944.

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HISTORY OF PALESTINE SPORTS

Established in November 2009, this blog aims to introduce readers to the developments of sports in Palestine. HPS is concerned about highlighting and documenting Palestinian sports since the first decade of the 20th century to the present date, which will require contributions from all researchers and historians.For information, please contact;Issam Khalidiiskhalidi55@hotmail.com

Issam Khalidi, an independent scholar, lives in Monterey CA, US. Born in Jerusalem, Palestine. Received his PhD in 1987 from the Institute of Physical Culture, Moscow, Russia.

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